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JCM 09 03197 v3
JCM 09 03197 v3
Clinical Medicine
Article
The Impact of Virtual Reality Training on the Quality
of Real Antromastoidectomy Performance
Wojciech Gaw˛ecki 1, * , Magdalena W˛egrzyniak 1 , Patrycja Mickiewicz 2 ,
Maria Bratumiła Gawłowska 3,4 , Marcin Talar 3,5 and Małgorzata Wierzbicka 1
1 Department of Otolaryngology and Laryngological Oncology, Poznań University of Medical Sciences,
60-355 Poznań, Poland; m.wegrzyniak89@gmail.com (M.W.); otosk2@gmail.com (M.W.)
2 WSB University, 41-300 Dabrowa
˛ Górnicza, Poland; p.mickiewicz86@wp.pl
3 Medicus sp. z o.o., 50-224 Wrocław, Poland; mgawlowska@medicus.com.pl (M.B.G.);
mtalar@medicus.com.pl (M.T.)
4 Poznań University of Medical Sciences, 61-701 Poznań, Poland
5 Faculty of Health Sciences, Pomeranian Medical University in Szczecin, 71-210 Szczecin, Poland
* Correspondence: wojgaw@interia.pl; Tel.: +48-61-8691-387; Fax: +48-61-8691-690
Received: 10 September 2020; Accepted: 29 September 2020; Published: 2 October 2020
Abstract: Background: The aim of this paper is to analyze the results of virtual reality (VR)
antromastoidectomy simulation training and the transferability of the obtained skills to real temporal
bone surgery. Methods: The study was conducted prospectively on a group of 10 physicians, and was
composed of five VR simulation training sessions followed by live temporal bone surgery. The quality
of performance was evaluated with a Task-Based Checklist (TBC) prepared by John Hopkins Hospital.
Additionally, during every VR session, the number and type of mistakes (complications) were noted.
Results: The quality of performance measured by the TBC increased significantly during consecutive
VR sessions. The mean scores for the first and fifth sessions were 1.84 and 4.27, respectively (p < 0.001).
Furthermore, the number of mistakes in consecutive VR sessions was gradually reduced from
11 to 0. During supervised surgery, all the participants were able to perform at least part of an
antromastoidectomy, and the mean TBC score was 3.57. There was a significant strong positive
correlation between the individual results of the fifth VR session and the individual results of
supervised surgery in the operating room (rp = 0.89, p = 0.001). Conclusions: Virtual reality for
temporal bone training makes it possible to acquire surgical skills in a safe environment before
performing supervised surgery. Furthermore, the individual final score of virtual antromastoidectomy
training allows a prediction of the quality of performance in real surgery.
1. Introduction
To date, temporal bone training has been largely based on traditional dissection of cadaveric
temporal bones through in-house training or participation in national or international temporal bone
courses [1]. Training facilities are in the vast majority of European ENT Departments dealing with
otosurgery, but due to the poor availability of human temporal bones, access for trainees is limited [1–3].
Virtual reality (VR) simulation and artificial temporal bone models have been gaining popularity as
training supplements to “wet” dissection in many institutions, and nowadays, multiple VR simulators
are commercially available [4–8].
VR training has many important advantages. It provides a wide range of anatomic variants
and enables failures without consequences and unlimited practice [9–13]. The key components of
the training are to avoid exceeding the anatomical boundaries of a complete mastoidectomy and to
avoid violating vital structures [6]. Simulation-based technical skills training must present a good
balance between automatic scoring, drilling time and self-assessment [14]. A simulator-integrated
tutor function has significantly improved performance in these areas [6], and the number of objective
assessment tools for self-directed practice has been reported [15]. A feasible alternative is final-product
analysis or a simulator-based automated assessment and feedback scoring system [14,15]. For a
combined metrics-based score (MBS), a significant discriminative ability between experienced
surgeons and residents was demonstrated; nevertheless, it failed to measure or encourage safe
routines [14]. Moreover, at present, the automated feedback based on metrics in VR simulation
does not have a sufficient empirical basis and has not been generally accepted for use in training
or certification [16]. Thus, the VR simulation training requires supplemental approaches, feedback,
improved self-assessment tools and raising awareness of real operating field challenges. Nearly all
previous VR studies were limited because that they did not assess the effect of simulation training on
“real life” performance in an operating room (OR).
Thus, the aim of this paper is to analyze the results of VR simulation training for
antromastoidectomy, which is one of the basic otosurgical procedures [17], and to evaluate the
transferability of the obtained skills to the real temporal bone operating field, measured by a specialist’s
assessment of a supervised surgery.
2. Experimental Section
2.2. Materials
The participants consisted of 10 physicians: four ENT specialists experienced in rhinology or head
and neck oncology, and six otorhinolaryngology residents. None of the participants were experienced
in otosurgery. They had never performed an antromastoidectomy before, neither in a VR simulator
or cadaver specimen nor in a real patient in an OR. All of them had assisted in many (more than
30) otological procedures (tympanoplasties, cholesteatoma surgeries and cochlear implantations).
Two experienced otosurgeons (with more than 10 years of experience and more than 1000 performed
middle-ear surgeries) participated in the study as supervisors for all the participants.
J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9, 3197 3 of 11
J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 11
SUPERVISED SURGERY
Figure 1. Study
Figure design.
1. Study design.
surgery would be stopped (not completed by the participant) if a supervisor decided it was potentially
dangerous or the participant did not feel confident enough to continue. The time limit was 40 min.
3. Results
The group of 10 participants managed to complete the course of five VR sessions, and all were
allowed to take part in active assisting during a surgery, and further, in a supervised surgery.
Figure 3. Boxplot of TBC results between sessions (the circle above VR2 represents an outlier
observation).
J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9, 3197 6 of 11
Table 1. Task-Based Checklist (TBC) results by session (VR–virtual reality surgery; OR–supervised
surgery in operating room; Q1–lower quartile; Q3–upper quartile; n = 10).
Table 2. TBC change between sessions (MANOVA post-hoc test; MD—mean difference in TBC
between two sessions calculated as the later session mean minus the previous session mean, with a
95% confidence interval (CI); p–individual paired t-test p-value; padj –paired t-test p-value adjusted for
multiple comparisons (Bonferroni correction)).
12
10
8
Number of failures
Figure 5. Scatterplot for TBC result between VR5 session and operating room (OR) surgery.
4. Discussion
The aim of this paper was to analyze the results of VR simulation training with special regard to the
transferability of the obtained surgical skills to the real temporal bone operating field. The influence of
VR training on different real surgeries, i.e., colonoscopy, laparoscopic camera navigation and endoscopic
sinus surgery, showed that the participants who reached proficiency in simulation-based training
performed better in a patient-based setting than their counterparts who did not have such training,
and furthermore, simulation-based training was equally as effective as patient-based training [22].
In temporal bone surgery, human cadaveric dissection has been the gold standard of training for a
long time because it closely mimics real-life surgical conditions [23]. However, contemporary otologic
training is primarily acquired in an OR because the instruction and practice of using a cadaveric
temporal bone is less consistently available to trainees today [11]. Furthermore, artificial bone models,
which are popular in multiple medical disciplines (dental implants, maxillo-facial surgery, orthopedics),
are not widely used in otosurgery because of some deficiencies in comparison to real temporal bone.
However, they can be an alternative for beginners [24,25].
Fortunately, a new option—VR temporal bone training—has been gaining importance for the
past few years, and nowadays, VR is a well-established and useful adjunct to traditional cadaveric
dissection of temporal bone for trainees [6,19,26]. Such training may play an important and increasing
role in education in the future, but under certain conditions and according to some standards [14].
This way of training is reportedly used in many leading training departments in Europe, and most of
the remaining departments expect to implement VR simulation for temporal bone training into their
residency programs in the near future [1].
J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9, 3197 9 of 11
The question arises whether this kind of training would allow participants to skip ahead,
from VR to gradually more advanced assists and supervised surgeries, and consequently to
replacing cadaveric temporal bone dissections completely or significantly. The benefits of VR
training in antromastoidectomy performance were shown in cadaveric temporal bone dissection [19].
Andersen et al. proved that even two hours of self-directed VR simulation training were effective in
increasing cadaveric dissection mastoidectomy performance. The conclusion is that mastoidectomy
skills are transferable from VR simulation to traditional dissection [6]. The impact of VR training on real
middle-ear surgery performance was checked by Al-Noury, who found that in previously simulated
cases, the residents scored higher, were faster and more confident and required fewer instructions [26].
However, the impact of VR training on real surgery has not been sufficiently proved. Thus, in this
paper, we aimed at answering whether VR is an effective training instrument that enables physicians to
obtain skills sufficient for surgery in a real temporal bone operating field. For this purpose, we planned
a training program of five sessions separated by 4–5-week breaks. This was based on the observations
described by Andersen et al., who found that the mastoidectomy skills acquired under time-distributed
practice conditions were retained better than skills acquired under massed practice conditions [27].
The tool we used was a validated Task-Based Checklist (TBC), prepared by John Hopkins
Hospital [21]. According to Sethia et al., who reviewed the literature for assessment of performance for
mastoidectomy, this tool possesses the most validity evidence of those reviewed [15]. However, as TBC
does not take into account the number and type of performed mistakes (intraoperative complications)
during a surgery, we added such analysis in every VR session. We found that the VR lab is perfect
to facilitate repeated training in mastoid basic surgery. During consecutive sessions, the quality of
performance increased, and most importantly, the number of mistakes (intraoperative complications)
gradually decreased to zero. This effect can be explained by both an improvement in anatomical
knowledge and surgical skills after repeated training. Active assisting during surgery confirmed
excellent anatomical and surgical knowledge obtained during the VR antromastoidectomy course.
All of the participants were then allowed to perform a supervised surgery, and all of them managed to
perform at least part of an antromastoidectomy, with a mean score that compared to that between their
third and fourth VR sessions. Such results indicate the importance of VR training (results significantly
better than in the first and second VR sessions), and also the influence of the change of working
environment from VR to real surgery (where results were significantly worse in comparison to the fifth,
and last, VR session), which is fully understandable. As safety during the surgery and the wellbeing of
the patient are always the most important aspect, it is understandable that either the participant or
supervisor decided to stop when the safety of the surrounding structures was potentially endangered
or if the surgery time was exceeded. No complications occurred during the surgeries performed by
the participants or in combination with the supervisors. We have shown that just five sessions of VR
temporal bone training might be enough to enable physicians to obtain the skills sufficient to perform
a supervised antromastoidectomy. Furthermore, we found a significant strong positive correlation
between the individual results of the fifth VR session and the individual results of the supervised
surgery in the OR, which shows that the individual final score of VR training allows a prediction of the
quality of performance in a real surgery.
This study has several limitations. First, the VR simulator used in the study was relatively simple.
We are aware that making VR simulations more realistic could improve the quality of surgery in the
operating room. Second, the lack of training on temporal bones from cadavers after the last VR session
and immediate switch to a real operation is a downside of this study, but at the same time, we are trying
to prove the possibility of bypassing that intermediate training stage, as it is increasingly difficult to
organize. The most serious study limitation is its small sample size and single-center design.
This study also has several advantages. The most noteworthy is the repeated use of the same VR
model and comparing the learning curve and gained skills with the in vivo operating field.
J. Clin. Med. 2020, 9, 3197 10 of 11
To summarize, VR temporal bone training can address needs in continuing education and
competency-based residency training, but there is still the open question of whether it ultimately
becomes a component of the certification process. We believe that in the future, this form of
repeated VR simulation can even totally replace the cadaveric temporal bone lab and allow residents
to proceed to surgery under specialist guidance, preselected by active assisting during a surgery.
Systematic integration of training using VR simulation is possibly the future direction of surgical
first steps.
5. Conclusions
Virtual reality for temporal bone training makes it possible to acquire surgical skills in a safe
environment before performing supervised surgery. Furthermore, the individual final score of virtual
antromastoidectomy training allows a prediction of the quality of performance in a real surgery.
Author Contributions: Conceptualization, M.W. (Małgorzata Wierzbicka) and W.G.; methodology, W.G., P.M.
and M.W. (Magdalena W˛egrzyniak); software, M.T.; formal analysis, W.G. and M.B.G.; investigation, W.G.
and M.W. (Magdalena W˛egrzyniak); resources, M.T.; data curation, W.G. and M.W. (Magdalena W˛egrzyniak);
writing, W.G. and M.W. (Małgorzata Wierzbicka); writing—review and editing, M.W. (Małgorzata Wierzbicka),
P.M. and W.G.; visualization, M.B.G.; supervision, M.W. (Małgorzata Wierzbicka); project administration, M.W.
(Małgorzata Wierzbicka). All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research received no external funding.
Acknowledgments: Authors wish to thank the Cochlear Ltd., Sydney, for free sharing of the VR equipment
whereby the study could be performed.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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